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Saracens deploy 9 internationals in 27-man matchday line-up for Coventry
By Ian Cameron
Saracens will deploy nine internationals in their 27-man matchday team to host Coventry in the hope of landing their second pre-season win since being relegated from the Gallagher Premiership last Autumn.
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England Saxon Alex Lewington, Scotland international Sean Maitland and veteran back row Jackson Wray all return to start in the home fixture at the StoneX Stadium.
Saracens bested Doncaster Knights 29 – 10 following two consecutive losses to Ealing Trailfinders in the Trailfinders Challenge Cup, a pre-season friendly competition ahead of the return of the Green King IPA Championship.
Callum Hunter-Hill remains at blindside for the fixture, with Andy Christie at No.8, while Wales scrumhalf Aled Davies partners with standoff Manu Vunipola at 9 and 10 respectively. Springbok Vincent Koch joins Richard Barrington and Tom Woolstencroft in a formidable front row. England U20s star Joel Kpoku joins Scotland’s Tim Swinson in a heavyweight locking partnership.
Scotland centre Duncan Taylor and joins high flying Dom Morris in the centres, while Elliott Obatoyinbo starts at fullback.
The starting fifteen includes five Test internationals, with a further four on the bench in the shape of Kapeli Pifeleti, Will Hooley, Juan Pablo Socino and Eroni Mawi.
SARACENS TEAM:
15 Elliott Obatoyinbo
14 Alex Lewington
13 Dom Morris
12 Duncan Taylor
11 Sean Maitland
10 Manu Vunipola
9 Aled Davies
1 Richard Barrington
2 Tom Woolstencroft (CAPTAIN)
3 Vincent Koch
4 Joel Kpoku
5 Tim Swinson
6 Callum Hunter-Hill
7 Jackson Wray
8 Andy Christie
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REPLACEMENTS:
16 Kapeli Pifeleti
17 Sam Crean
18 Josh Ibuanokpe
19 Ollie Stonham
20 Sean Reffell
21 Alex Day
22 Tom Whiteley
23 Juan Pablo Socino
Will Hooley (no number)
Ethan Benson (no number)
Ben Harris (no number)
Eroni Mawi (no number)
COVENTRY:
15 Louis Brown
14 Tom Emery
13 Rob Knox
12 Tony Fenner
11 Callum Sirker
10 Kieran Wilkinson
9 Josh Barton
1 Luc Jeannot
2 Nic Dolly
3 James Harper
4 Nile Dacres
5 Alex Woolford
6 Sam Lewis
7 Ben Nutley
8 Ryan Burrows (capt)
REPLACEMENTS
Suva Ma’asi, Toby Trinder, Phil Boulton, Cameron Jordan, Adam Peters, Senitiki Nayalo, Pete White, Dan Lewis, Will Owen, Andy Forsyth, Louis James, Tom Hudson
Kick-off is 3pm.
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Amazing that Shaun was in the Grammar 1st XV with Reiko, and it's taken him all this time to make his mark, them being the same age. Good on him for sticking local, cos it's the key to big bucks down the line.
Got to comments"Foul play ignored by the referee which paved the way for the result-stealing try" is simply not correct. The referee reviewed the incident with the TMO (having also been in a better place than the tv cameras to judge it in real time) and concluded that it was a fair contest for the ball. That is a reasonable call: the two players jumped at the same time, and collided on the path the ball was following. Van Rensburg got to it fractionally earlier, but there wasn't much in it. The communication of the decision could perhaps have been clearer, but on the basis of the facts they considered it was not foul play. In the current climate, with referees experiencing mental health issues or receiving death threats as a result of criticism by coaches, commentary like this isn't just inaccurate, it is potentially dangerous. If there were a framework for evaluating bad reporting, this would be at least a yellow card with very limited mitigation.
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